SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

South Korea is among the most exposed to Hormuz closure: it imports over 70% of its oil from the Middle East. The Korea Times reports Seoul taking a "cautious note" toward Iran's strait toll proposal. The same paper documents US gasoline crossing $4 per gallon—treated as early indicator of what awaits Korea. Kyodo News (reprinted in Korea) reveals Seoul proposing a supplemental budget of 26.2 trillion won (roughly $18 billion) to cushion Middle East tensions—the biggest emergency economic plan since the pandemic. This information is absent from Western coverage. South Korea, which previously considered restricting car travel when oil approached $120 per barrel, takes the problem seriously. The Korea Times treats Trump as an erratic actor whose statements must be reported but not analyzed—the "just take it" appears without comment, as if absurdity speaks for itself. South Korea may be the most vulnerable G20 economy to this crisis. Without domestic oil resources, dependent over 70% on the Middle East, it has no room to maneuver. The 26.2 trillion won supplemental budget is an admission: South Korea cannot negotiate passage (like China), produce its own oil (like the US), or bypass the crisis (like India with Russian crude). It must absorb the shock through public spending—a model sustainable for months, not years.